Seventeen pine trees on Jabuca - in seventeen years of life, a grave in the Pljeval city cemetery and a city school and street named after him, even today, eight decades after his death, they remember the most famous partisan boy - the bomber Boška Buhu.
“We gravitate when it's dark. While we are thus attracted, the machine gunner fires from the other side to draw attention to himself. The enemy fires in his direction. We put bombs in the bunker. So we had one action in Dalmatia. There are stone houses there. They can't do anything. Then we found the lotra (stairs), climbed on the roof and removed the panel from the fireplace and inserted the bomb. The enemy must then die or surrender...", those were the words Buha addressed to the delegates at the First Congress of the United Union of Anti-Fascist Youth of Yugoslavia, held in Bihać at the end of December 1942.
According to historical sources, his inspired speech and strikingly short height caused general enthusiasm among those present, among whom was Josip Broz Tito,, who rose from his seat and congratulated him...
Chetnik ambush and grave in Pljevlja
Only nine months later, on September 27, 1943, in Jabuca, a place between Pljevlja and Prijepolje, Boško was killed. The truck carrying the legendary Second Proletarian bomber was ambushed by Chetniks...
At the place where he died, seventeen pine trees were planted, for the seventeen-year-old who gave his life for the freedom enjoyed by generations.
After the war, in 1951, Boško was declared a national hero, and it is less known that his grave is located in Pljevlja, in the city cemetery in Varoš.
The people of Pljevlja erected a monument to him in the form of a school bench from which the bomber left prematurely, when, together with his family, he had to leave his native Virovitica after the formation of the Independent State of Croatia.
My father used to say that Pljevlja is Boško's city
His courage and sacrifice are deeply etched in the generations of Pljevlja. The memory of the fearless bomber Pljevlje began to be preserved immediately after the war, the ninety-two-year-old honorary president of SOBNOR of Montenegro told "Vijesti" Vidoje Despotović.
"At every gathering next to the monument to Boško Buha and at the monument on Stražica, where 718 soldiers were buried in a common grave, we mention national heroes, among them Boško. In Pljevlja, four more national heroes are buried in the tomb on Stražica, who died in the Battle of Pljevlja - Vuk Knezevic, Dusan Obradović, Lazar Radojevic i Petar Jovićević. So we use all these gatherings to remind them, especially of Boško, whose monument we preserve and maintain here. I had the opportunity to talk with Boško Buha's father - I'm working. I asked him - why the Rade did not wish to transfer Boško Buha's remains to Virovitica after the war, and he answered - we will not do that, Pljevlja is Boško's city. Pljevlja received Boško, they buried Boško, they keep his memory and we will not do that because we value Pljevlja as Boško's city", says Despotović.
He reminded that Pljevlja and Virovitica are sister municipalities, but that for years none of the officials of that municipality in Croatia had come to Pljevlja and visited Boško's grave.
Flowers and lessons in honor of the legendary bomber
Pljeval students, fighters and admirers of the figure and deeds of the legendary partisan bomber visit his grave every year on the day of his death. This was also the case this year when the eightieth anniversary of the martyrdom was marked, when - representatives of veterans' organizations, citizens and students and teachers of the elementary school named after Boško laid flowers on his grave, remembering the courage of the youngest partisan hero from the Second World War.
Director of the school "Boško Buha" Borisa Golubovic he said that students and teachers laid flowers on the grave of the national hero whose name the school bears.
"We dedicated part of the lesson to read a text about the life and work of Boško Buha, after whom our school is named. We do that every year on this day," Golubović said.
Addressing the audience who came to pay tribute to the young hero on September 27, Radojica Radojević, the president of SOBNOR of Montenegro, said that at the age of seventeen, Boško died, not far from the village of Jabuka, having previously killed several enemy soldiers, who had ambushed him when he was returning from the youth conference.
"During the ambush, the political commissar of the hospital was with Buho Bogdan Radan who also died on the spot and the doctor Saša Božović who was wounded and captured on that occasion, but was soon released," said Radojević.
He reminded that Buha was born in 1926 in Nova Gradina, in the municipality of Virovitica, in Croatia.
"As a child of poor peasants who were colonized after the First World War. After finishing elementary school, Boško stayed in the village. After the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia, he came to Mačva, where in 1941 he joined the Mačva partisan detachment. He was treated for a short time in the liberated Užice, and during the retreat of the partisan forces from Serbia, Boško retreated with the fighters of the Užice partisan detachment. After the formation of the Second Proletarian Brigade, he joined the 4th Battalion as a fighter. Already during the defense of Užice, and then in the battles at Trešnjica and Karan, Boško showed exceptional courage. He stood out as one of the most skilled bombers in a series of battles in Čajnič, Kozara, Tarčin, Kupres, Jajce, Livno and other places, wherever his proletarian brigade fought. He was a favorite among the fighters because of his youth and was appreciated for his rarely seen courage", pointed out Radojević.
I'll tell you how we go to the bunker
The second proletarian brigade, in which Boško was the leader of the bomb department, sent him as its delegate to the First Congress of the Anti-Fascist Youth of Yugoslavia.
"He was only sixteen at the time, small in stature, but determined to perform. He asked to speak. When he went up to the rostrum, he could hardly be seen, but his speech caused enthusiasm among the delegates: 'I'm going to tell you, comrades, how we go to the bunkers...', and he talked about how he and his comrades bombarded the peaks houses and through the chimneys they throw bombs at the Ustashas. Even the Supreme Commander of the People's Liberation Army and the partisan detachment of Yugoslavia, excited by Boško's appearance and words, got up from his seat and congratulated him. Because, at that time, Boško was not only a delegate of the Second Proletarian Party. He was a representative of the revolutionary youth movement, the entire organization, the Union of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia, which, until that Congress, laid twelve thousand lives in the foundations of the future Yugoslavia. Both in the later battles at Kupres, and in the V enemy offensive, Boško showed great courage, which is why he was rewarded with gifts from the Supreme Commander in two stages," emphasizes Radojević.
A few days after Boško's death, a large number of Pljevlja citizens gathered at the cemetery in Varoš to send the young hero to his eternal rest.
"Boško Buha was buried with an honor guard of his comrades, boys, bombers. Then his comrades and the people of Pljevlja paid him all their respects. He was declared a national hero on December 20, 1951. Boško Buha will be remembered in our history as one of the most famous partisans, the most famous partisan bomber and fighter of the heroic Second Proletarian Brigade. A boy warrior who, in two years of war, went through the bloodiest partisan battles. Kudos to him," says Radojević.
SOBNOR: Strictly against revisionism
He assessed that today we live in a time when individuals and groups try to deny the image and deeds of the participants of the National Liberation War and revolution, and thus the glorious anti-fascist past.
"SOBNOR of Montenegro, as a continuation of the nurturing of revolutionary traditions and the original idea of our famous National Liberation Struggle (NLD), will strongly oppose all those forces and individuals who deny our famous NLD, and glorify the defeated forces in the Second World War and their leaders. During every gathering next to the freedom monument from our famous NOB, we proudly remember first of all those who did not regret their lives and gave them for the freedom of their region and their country", said Radojević.
He pointed out that it is our permanent obligation and the least we can do is to never forget those who laid down their lives for the freedom of our homeland.
"We hope that the honorable and heroic life of the national hero Boško Buha will be a role model for young generations and generations, and this monument will remain in this same place forever to remind us of that."
Despotović: Holy Friday is coming
According to Despotović, the Union of Fighters is fighting the battle to preserve memories of the events that took place during the Second World War by marking important dates.
"We have a case that in Pljevlje the Municipal Day, November 20, is being changed, when the partisans liberated Pljevlje. They take a certain day of Holy Friday to declare it the Municipal Day, even though in Pljevlja a large number of residents are not Orthodox, and some other date is imposed on them. The day of liberation, November 20, 1944, is being ignored, so these relations are changing, and we are sorry for that," Despotović said.
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